Pros:

Cons:

Tim Burton and Henry Selick's The Nightmare Before Christmas might have hit theaters more than a decade ago, but if the shelves of Hot Topic are any indication, it remains as popular as ever with the young 'uns and Goth kids alike. And with Halloween right around the corner and Burton's second stop-motion masterpiece, The Corpse Bride, doing respectable business in theatrical release, there's no better time for Capcom to bring the Japanese Oogie's Revenge across the Pacific for a U.S. release. Unfortunately, the timing of its release is by far the most impressive thing about Oogie's Revenge. This flawed action-adventure title kicks the long, spindly legs right out from under the Nightmare franchise and threatens to disappoint young and old gamers alike.

Oogie's story is extremely faithful to its source material and might be the best part of the game. After yet another wildly successful Halloween, Jack Skellington decides to leave his home of Halloweentown in search of fresh new ideas for next year's fright fest. Mad scientist Dr. Finkelstein, creator of Jack's lady love Sally, arms him with a flubbery sidearm called a Soul Robber, which is basically a juiced-up version of those sticky hands that you can get for a quarter out of supermarket vending machines. The good doctor should have kept his invention for himself, because as soon as Jack leaves town, the impish Lock, Shock and Barrel waste no time in reviving Jack's nemesis, the fearsome Oogie Boogie, who hasn't forgotten how Jack tore him a new one (literally) at the end of their last theatrical tangle. Jack returns to find that Oogie has taken over Halloweentown, and it's up to the Pumpkin King to send Oogie packing once again.

Jack's primary tool for accomplishing said goal is the aforementioned Soul Robber, which can grab enemies, slap them senseless, or send them flying into other foes. Scoring consecutive hits against enemies quickly racks up combos -- even inexperienced gamers won't find it too hard to string together 10- or 20-hit combos when the action gets intense. And the Soul Robber controls are refreshingly intuitive to boot. Pressing the strike button repeatedly strikes an enemy non-stop. Continuing to press the grab button after grabbing an enemy slams it into the ground, and pressing the strike button sends him flying into other enemies. Moving the analog stick in a circle while striking whips up a spiral shield that damages nearby baddies and protects Jack from attack. Even if the player doesn't bother to learn any of the more advanced techniques, they should have little trouble making it through the game's early stages with these tricks.

"This is Te-di-ous! This is Te-di-ous!"

The only problem is, it doesn't take long for combat to feel repetitive, because all non-boss enemies are dealt with in the same way -- whip, whip, whip, grab, swing, toss, repeat. It doesn't help that every time you use the Soul Robber's grabbing attack, Jack shouts "Soul Robber!" Or the fact that the one and only song played in combat is "This is Halloween" from the original movie soundtrack. It's not a bad song by any means, but unless you're four years old, the novelty of hearing it over and over and over wears off pretty quickly. It won't be long before you're substituting your own lyrics, many of which can't be printed on a website such as this one.